BBC News with Joe Macintosh.

The Iraqi government says its forces have gained victory over Islamic State fighters in the city of Tikrit after a month-long siege. Explosions and gunfire can still be heard but the Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi had been filmed walking in the city holding an Iraqi flag. Here's our Arab affairs editorSebastian Usher.“The picture was seen of rubble-strewn streets. There's still a great deal of unexploded bombs that IS has left. That's gonna take a long time before the people who've left can be brought back. But it is a significant victory as a battle, the same ship but the government, and the U.S.-led coalition but they weren't involved in the start of it. Obviously, they did play a part in the end, I think an important part in bombing the centre, the palace complex where the last IS fighters had held up.”

Islamic State militants in Syria...